Geoarchaeological studies of man-environment interaction at the Glauberg, Wetterau, Germany

摘要

With its defensive rampart system and richly furnished graves the Glauberg is one of the most impressive prehistoric monuments in Hesse, Germany, During the late Hallstatt and early LaTene periods (600-250 BC) the Glauberg can be understood as an early Celtic political and economic centre. The present study improves our understanding of the annex, a complex enclosure of ramparts and ditches on the northern Glauberg slope. Results from soils and colluvia are crucial. They show that the annex is a damp site with stagnic soil properties, which could have aided a function of water supply. A chronology for the colluvia underlying the inner rampart and filling the ditch is established by the Optically Stimulated Luminescence technique. To improve luminescence dating of the silly material transported over short slope-lengths we adopt infrared-stimulated single-aliquot regeneration (IRSL SAR) techniques for polymineral fine-grains. Dating results show that colluviation indicating human impact by forest clearance occurred in the Bronze Age or Early Iron Age and in the later Iron Age, perhaps contemporary with the erection of the rampart.